Highlights d Dinosaurs and early birds had similar relative brain sizes d Major shifts in brain-body integration occur in the aftermath of the K-Pg extinction d Rates of brain-body evolution are highest in non-avian dinosaurs, early-diverging birds, parrots, and crows d Corvids, like hominins, evolved larger relative brains and bodies simultaneously

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We report a new specimen of the extinct procellariiform species Diomedeoides brodkorbi (Aves, Diomedeoididae) from the early Oligocene (Rupelian)

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Presbyornithids were the dominant birds in Palaeogene lacustrine assemblages, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, but are thought to have disappeared worldwide by the mid-Eocene. Now classified within Anseriformes (screamers, ducks, swans and geese), their relationships have long been obscured by their strange wader-like skeletal morphology. Reassessment of the late Oligocene South Australian material attributed to Wilaru tedfordi, long considered to be of a stone-curlew (Burhinidae, Charadriiformes), reveals that this taxon represents the first record of a presbyornithid in Australia. We also describe the larger Wilaru prideauxi sp. nov. from the early Miocene of South Australia, showing that presbyornithids survived in Australia at least until ca 22 Ma. Unlike on other continents, where presbyornithids were replaced by aquatic crown-group anatids (ducks, swans and geese), species of Wilaru lived alongside these waterfowl in Australia. The morphology of the tarsometatarsus of these species indicates that, contrary to other presbyornithids, they were predominantly terrestrial birds, which probably contributed to their long-term survival in Australia. The morphological similarity between species of Wilaru and the Eocene South American presbyornithid Telmabates antiquus supports our hypothesis of a Gondwanan radiation during the evolutionary history of the Presbyornithidae. Teviornis gobiensis from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia is here also reassessed and confirmed as a presbyornithid. These findings underscore the temporal continuance of Australia’s vertebrates and provide a new context in which the phylogeny and evolutionary history of presbyornithids can be examined.

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One of the notable features of penguin evolution is the occurrence of very large species in the early Cenozoic, whose body size greatly exceeded that of the largest extant penguins. Here we describe a new giant species from the late Paleocene of New Zealand that documents the very early evolution of large body size in penguins. Kumimanu biceae, n. gen. et sp. is larger than all other fossil penguins that have substantial skeletal portions preserved. Several plesiomorphic features place the new species outside a clade including all post-Paleocene giant penguins. It is phylogenetically separated from giant Eocene and Oligocene penguin species by various smaller taxa, which indicates multiple origins of giant size in penguin evolution. That a penguin rivaling the largest previously known species existed in the Paleocene suggests that gigantism in penguins arose shortly after these birds became flightless divers. Our study therefore strengthens previous suggestions that the absence of very large penguins today is likely due to the Oligo-Miocene radiation of marine mammals.

We describe leg bones of a giant penguin from the mid-Paleocene Waipara Greensand of New Zealand. The specimens were found at the type locality of Waimanu manneringi and together with this species they constitute the oldest penguin fossils known to date. Tarsometatarsus dimensions indicate a species that reached the size of Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi, one of the largest known penguin species. Stem group penguins therefore attained a giant size very early in their evolution, with this gigantism existing for more than 30 million years. The new fossils are from a species that is phylogenetically more derived than Waimanu, and the unexpected coexistence of Waimanu with more derived stem group Sphenisciformes documents a previously unknown diversity amongst the world's oldest penguins. The characteristic tarsometatarsus shape of penguins evolved early on, and the significant morphological disparity between Waimanu and the new fossil conflicts with recent Paleocene divergence estimates for penguins, suggesting an older, Late Cretaceous, origin.